Reservoir Stimulation Technologies for Natural Gas Hydrate: Research Progress, Challenges, and Perspectives
Kunlin Ma, Dongliang Li, Deqing Liang
Abstract
The energy crisis has intensified in recent years. The current global economic environment and increasing cost of mining necessitate additional energy access channels. Previous studies have shown that natural gas hydrate reservoirs (NGHRs) contain a large number of natural gas resources. However, several problems are associated with the safe and efficient exploitation of the NGHRs. Reservoir stimulation technology is expected to address these issues. This study introduces the properties and mining difficulties of NGHRs and reviews their stimulation scheme and related research progress based on three perspectives: hydraulic fracturing, burden sealing, and near-well reconstruction. The principles, advantages, and limitations of the three schemes are compared. In addition to the stimulation effects of the three aforementioned methods, this study focused on the fracability of NGHRs, the factors influencing fracture initiation and development, and the fracturing fluid, proppant, completion fluid, and slurry suitable for NGHR stimulation. In addition, the principles, current challenges, and future research prospects for reservoir stimulation are summarized to provide a reference for the commercial exploitation of natural gas hydrates in the future.